Growing Interests
by shadowkixx
Summary: Ralph had always looked at Vanellope as a kid he cared about. But when Vanellope messes with her coding to look like an adult, will Ralph still feel the same way?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**The New Vanellope**

Summer was a busy time of year for everyone at Litwak's arcade. Children stormed the arcade day after day, leaving all the video game characters exhausted by closing time. Luckily though, the summer time had come to an end, with school starting for the children. Mr. Litwak had a tradition of closing the arcade for a week when school started. It was to either give himself a break or to make sure the children would focus on getting back into their school routines. Either way, everyone at the arcade felt relieved to relax and enjoy their well-earned break.

"All clear everyone!" yelled Yuni from Dance Dance Revolution.

A collective sigh of relief could be heard from the game "Fix-It Felix Jr." Ralph had never felt so relieved in his life to hear those words. He hopped out of the mud puddle he was thrown into from the last gaming session. Sore but glad, he headed back to his home, ready to crash for the night.

"Ralph! Hold on brother!" called a familiar voice.

Ralph turned around to see Felix running towards him. It seemed that the handyman himself was still full of energy..

"Hey. What's up Felix?" said Ralph.

"Well. Since the arcade is going to be closed for a week, how about we go meet up with the others at Tappers to celebrate?" suggested Felix.

Ralph hadn't seen Vanellope or Calhoun as much lately. The couple of times that Ralph saw Vanellope recently, however, was when he was lifted up on the rooftop by the Nicelanders. It'd be nice to see the kid in person again.

"Alright then. I'm up for it." answered the wrecker.

"Great. While you go get Vanellope, I'll head straight to my dynamite gal pronto!" beamed the fixer as the two made their way towards game central station.

Game central station was filled with various video game characters. Everyone had plans of their own, heading to various entrances or meeting up with others. It looked like they were glad to meet up with their friends again after a long day. Ralph and Felix exited their train and proceeded to the main plaza.

"Well Ralph," said Felix, "Let's meet up back here. This might take awhile for me. I don't want to scare Tamora like I did last time I went Hero's Duty. I nearly got myself killed by that cy-bug hiding near the entrance. Good thing she showed up, otherwise, I wouldn't know what would have happened."

"Be careful then. I'm sure she'll be glad to see you again." stated Ralph.

"Right then. Remember Ralph. Meet up back here alright?" yelled Felix as he ran off towards Hero's Duty.

Ralph turned around and glanced at the large LED light hung above the entrance towards Sugar Rush. A smile began forming on his face.

"Well kid. Ol' stinkbrain is coming for a visit." thought the wrecker.

* * *

Vanellope walked around what used to be the throne room in the castle. She always wanted to explore the castle a bit more, but was held back by having to participate in races or helping out the residents of Sugar Rush. So when she had a chance, she took it without hesitation. She had wondered how Turbo had messed with her code. When she asked Sour Bill for answers, all he stated was that there was a hidden room in castle that held the game's coding. Naturally, curiosity overcame the little girl and urged her to find the room. She didn't really want to mess with anyone's coding, she just wanted to explore and look at her own coding. However, her search ended up unsuccessful.

"Maybe I should get Ralphie to help me out." wondered Vanellope. She hadn't seen him in awhile. It'd be nice to do something with the big lummox again. Vanellope leaned against the back of the throne, lost in her thoughts. And that's when she noticed something odd. A faint light reflected off the floor under the large curtains. She pushed the curtains away and noticed a monochromatic hallway lit by fluorescent lights. This was definitely not like Sugar Rush. She made her way down the hallway and ended up at a large door with a controller on it.

"That's odd." Vanellope uttered. She pushed some of the buttons in hope of opening the door. Nothing happened.

"Aww man. I can't come this close and fail!" she cried out.

"Try Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start." suggested a monotonous voice behind her. Vanellope turned around and noticed Sour Bill making his way towards her, rope in hand.

"How do you know what the the code is?" questioned Vanellope.

"King Can- excuse me, Turbo uttered it plenty of times while he entered it. Naturally, I learned it through hearing." replied Sour Bill.

"Why are you helping me out though?" Vanellope asked.

"Because Princess, I can trust you enough not to mess with anyone's coding." Sour Bill stated. "You're not going to are you?"

"Of course not! Doy. Why would I do that? Besides, I only want to take a close look at my own anyways." Vanellope explained.

"Be sure not to do anything that would break the game. Okay?" urged Sour Bill as he tied the rope around Vanellope.

"I got it. I got it." she replied as she entered the code and made her way into the room.

She made her way through the data, surrounded by streams of information. In the middle, she spotted an icon with her name and face on it. She opened it and was greeted by tons of tinier icons. Vanellope was amazed by the sight of little familiar things that surrounded her, until one icon caught her eye. An icon labeled "character model."

* * *

Ralph stood in front of the large castle doors. He knocked on the doors using his fists and waited awhile for an answer. The door opened slowly, but no one came out to greet him. Ralph peeked in expecting someone to be inside.

"Hello? Anyone there? I've come to see Vanellope." said Ralph.

No reply. This was strange. Normally someone would be here to take him to her. Ralph made his way inside.

"OhmygoshRalphieyou'llneverbelievewhathappenedto me!" exclaimed a familiar voice. Next thing Ralph knew, he was pushed forward as he felt someone jumped at him from behind. He turned around saw a familiar face... except... she looked older.

"Vanellope?!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**The Spark**

"Vanellope? How did- how- what?" Ralph was speechless. It was her. He could tell just by looking at her, but she was definitely older. She looked as if she could most likely be a couple of years younger than him.

"You like it? I know I do!" Vanellope said excitedly as she spun in place, giving Ralph a good look at the new Vanellope.

"How did you eve-" Ralph was cut off by Vanellope, who had put a finger in front of his mouth.

"Shhh! Before I explain, I want to show the new me to Calhoun and Felix! I can't wait to see the look on their faces as well!" Vanellope said excitedly. "Plus, it'd be faster to explain to all of you, instead of just you and then them. Now c'mon! No time to lose stinkbrain!"

Vanellope grabbed one of Ralph's fingers and attempted to drag him along. Ralph however didn't budge.

"Is something wrong?" Vanellope asked.

"This isn't… a permanent change. Is it?" questioned Ralph.

"Well… I don't think it is. No. I don't think it's going to be a permanent thing. I'm sure I can change back before the arcade opens again! Now enough about that! C'mon we gotta go meet up with the other two!" Vanellope replied.

"Alright then…" Ralph said slowly as he followed Vanellope.

The two left the castle, making their way towards game central station.

* * *

Vanellope?! Felix and Calhoun said simultaneously, as they saw her approaching with Ralph.

"The one and only." said Vanellope, head held up high.

The group had assembled in the main plaza of Game Central Station, with numerous video game characters passing around them. Vanellope made her way towards a nearby bench and sat down. Felix and Calhoun both turned to Ralph, expecting him to have answers. Ralph shrugged in response.

"Now then," Vanellope began, "I'm sure you're all wondering why I look like this, huh?"

The group looked at her, each with a different look of curiosity.

"Well I'll give it to you plain and simple. I went into Sugar Rush's programming and found out that I had an unused character model that was left in the game. So, I swapped out my original one with this!" Vanellope jumped up, motioning to herself.

"This isn't going to mess with your game's programming is it?" Calhoun spoke out.

"Nothing bad happened when I did this, so no." said Vanellope with a grin.

"Are you going to stay like this now? Felix asked.

"Well, I was actually going to stay like this until the end of the week. I mean, the arcade is closed after all, so why not?" Vanellope replied.

"You okay with this Ralph?" said Felix.

"Well… If the kid wants to, then sure I guess… But if your game starts messing up, you better change back as soon as possible! You got it?" Ralph exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it. I got it." Vanellope groaned. "And don't call me 'kid' anymore. After all, I AM a woman now." she said proudly as she turned and began heading off to Tappers. The rest of the group followed her, with Ralph slowly following behind.

"This isn't going to change the way you feel about her. Is it?" Calhoun whispered suggestively.

"W-what!? Of course not! Why would it?" Ralph whispered back loudly.

"Relax lover boy. I was only messing around with you." Calhoun chuckled, making her way up to Felix.

Ralph began to feel his face burn up. He was sure that Calhoun had managed to turn his face bright red from embarrassment. Ralph slapped himself to regain his composure. However, what Calhoun had said came up in his mind again. Is the new Vanellope going to change how he feels about her?

"What am I thinking about? Of course it won't change anything." Ralph muttered to himself. "It's not like I even have those kinds of feelings for her anyway."

"Hey Ralphie!" Ralph looked up. "You coming you big lug?"

Vanellope was in front of the entrance waving at him. Ralph looked at her, trying to take in what had happened to her. He felt like there was something new about her. Other than the fact that she's older, there was something about her that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Hey hurry up!" Vanellope shouted at him, gesturing towards the large entrance.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Ralph said as he began sprinting towards her.

* * *

"Well that was fun." Vanellope said as she walked back into Game Central Station.

"I'm bushed." Felix stated with a yawn. "And also ready to hit the hay. You comin' honey?"

"You know it." replied Calhoun with a smile, following her husband to his game.

"G'night guys!" Felix shouted.

"Good night!" Ralph and Vanellope yelled back.

Vanellope started to make her way towards Sugar Rush with Ralph behind her. Calhoun called out "Hey lover boy!" Ralph looked back to find her, with a smirk, gesturing towards Vanellope. "Go get 'em tiger!" she yelled. Ralph began to blush intensely, turning around and hoping that Vanellope didn't hear. Luckily she was already ahead of him. The two reached the front of Sugar Rush before they stopped walking. Vanellope turned to Ralph, noticing the blush on his face.

"What's with the tomato face Ralphie? You look like you've accidentally seen someone naked."

"I-It's nothing! Just the heat getting to me." Ralph said in a hurry.

"Okay? Umm… I guess this is where you head back then…" said Vanellope, sadly. "You know, you could spend the week over at the castle with me."

"I dunno, I mean, I don't want to be a bother." Ralph said unsure.

"Oh c'mon! Pleeeease?" Vanellope begged, mustering up the best puppy dog eyes she could.

Ralph paused and then chuckled. "Oh alright then. After all, what's the worst that could happen?"

"YES! Follow me! I got the perfect room for you!" Vanellope yelled, while running into Sugar Rush.

Ralph smiled and followed her. "She may be an adult now, but she's definitely still a kid at heart."

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **_**First of all, I want to thank you guys for the wonderful comments on the last chapter. It's great to see you all take an interest in this story. Once again, thank you all for the support. :)**

**I apologize for the delay in this chapter. I hit writer's block in the process of making it. Sorry if some things didn't make sense , characters seem out-of-character, or if it seemed too short for you. I tried my best with multiple revisions of this chapter and ended up with this as the final product. If you have any questions left or have something that you want to see improved, please do say so. I'll see to it that your feedback is put to good use.**

**Once again, thank you all for the support and I hope you all enjoy the rest of the story!**

_**EDIT: Someone asked what Vanellope would probably look like right now. I did a drawing awhile back that kinda got me to start this fanfic. Here's the link to the picture.**_

_**shadowkixx . deviantart . com (/) art/Wreck-It-and-Older-Vanellope-337187604**_


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